#nerdlean: the great Bitcoin debate takes place at The Working Group on Thursday, April 24th from 6pm – 9pm. #nerdlearn is a causal beer ‘n’ pizza night for developers. For more information please email Holly Knowlman (holly@twg.ca) or tweet @nerdlearn.

2014 is shaping up to be an interesting year for Bitcoin. Al Gore is reportedly a “big fan,” and Snoop’s been joking that his next record will be available to purchase in Bitcoin. William Shatner is yet to be convinced.

Come and #nerdlearn about the future of money with The Working Group

#nerdlearn is a super casual beer ‘n’ pizza jam for Toronto developers. We’ll start the night off with pizza, beer, and mingling and more. If you want to bring along some developer friends, feel free to pass this post along! Tickets are just $5.

After you’re full of pizza we’ll be running a panel exploring Bitcoin. Get all of your burning Bitcoin questions answered, and hear both sides of the debate around the Bitcoin’s place in the future of the currency ecosystem.

Our moderator, Greengage’s CTO Dessy Daskalov, will be putting some of our burning questions to panel of experts to find out the what, how and why of this mysterious cryptocurrency.

PANELISTS

Having recently left his day job as an analog electronics designer Peter Todd is now working full time on decentralized consensus research and development. While his main role is as Mastercoin’s Chief Scientist his focus is on improving the scalability, decentralization, security, and privacy of crypto-coin systems in general.

Michael Perklin is president of Bitcoinsultants, the first security consulting company to specialize in Bitcoin security. He has performed thousands of forensic examinations on digital devices and has lead cybercrime investigations both on the Internet and on the Bitcoin blockchain. Michael has spoken at security conferences internationally about a variety of topics including digital forensics, computer security, anti-forensic techniques andBitcoin security. Michael holds numerous security-related degrees, diplomas and certifications in related fields and enjoys figuring out new and interesting ways to break things.

Zach Aysan has been involved with startups in Toronto since 2008, including FreshBooks, Algo Anywhere, and 500px. During dot com bubble in the 90s he worked for a private contractor that did work for intelligence organizations and international communications companies. he’s been following crypto-currencies since shortly after the announcement of Bitcoin and is actively working on an experimental, alternative crytpo-currency. He is a partner at Venn, a new design-development shop in Toronto responsible for the creation of EmberUI.

Russell Verbeeten was the technical part of the 3 person team that grew Vortex Mobile and Vortex Connect to 80 employees and millions in revenue before those mobile application companies were purchased by Transcontinental Inc. and Red Prairie Inc., respectively in 2010 and 2012. He subsequently went to Oxford University where he studied for a MSc in Internet and Society, focusing on a research thesis that looked at how Internet technologies diffused through society. He currently works out of Bitcoin Decentral in Toronto, where he is collaborating with leaders in the Bitcoin space on a developer education curriculum and a few early stage applications on the next generation of Cryptographic ledger platforms, like Ethereum. Find Russell on LinkedIn

such money, so wow

Bitcoin isn’t the only coinage up for debate. All cryptocurrency and future of money ideas are up for discussion. Whilst Coinye West is sadly no more, several alternatives to Bitcoin still exist, including Namecoin, Litecoin and, of course, Dogecoin.

There are numerous examples of alternative currencies being implemented at a local level with the goal of kickstarting economic growth. In the Greek town of Volos, locals have developed an alternative currency called TEMs in reaction to the country’s economic crisis. People can earn TEMs by doing jobs for each other, receiving credits instead of Euros which they can use to buy goods and services from others in the town. And in the UK, the city of Bristol implemented the Bristol Pound, the country’s first citywide local currency in support of independent retailers.

Bitcoin and its counterparts, rooted in technology, offer the opportunity for similar disruption at a global scale. It’s already been a rocky road, littered with security violations, market crashes and corporate resistance, but for those interested in learning more and becoming a part of the movement, #nerdlearn might just be the perfect place to dig deeper.

#nerdlean: the great Bitcoin debate takes place at The Working Group on Thursday, April 24th from 6pm – 9pm. #nerdlearn is a causal beer ‘n’ pizza night for developers. For more information please email Holly Knowlman (holly@twg.ca) or tweet @TWG.